MAURO Zarate's double earned 10-man Birmingham City three precious points in their battle for Premier League survival against Sven-Goran Eriksson's Manchester City.

The on-loan Al-Sadd striker produced some clinical finishing to edge Blues further away from the bottom three.

The home side had a few scares after Franck Queudrue's red card as Elano converted a penalty but another spot-kick from Gary McSheffrey restored the two-goal advantage.

Birmingham had been cruising to only their second victory of 2008 after the on-loan Zarate had taken his goal tally to three in the last two games.

Queudrue, brought into the side in place of the suspended Liam Ridgewell, was influential at the heart of the Blues back four before his red card.

Recalled skipper Damien Johnson dominated in midfield while Zarate was a constant threat with with his pace and trickery.

But the red card to Queudrue provided Birmingham with a tense 20-minute spell before McSheffrey's penalty restored their two-goal cushion.

Manchester City were second best while it was 11 versus 11 against a side who looked hungrier and more committed.

Birmingham started brightly in the swirling wind and a fine pass from Queudrue picked out Mikael Forssell who chested the ball down to McSheffrey but he snatched at his shot as it bobbled wide.

The home side had a let-off after seven minutes after Fabrice Muamba had given the ball away in midfield.

Elano threaded the ball through to Benjani Mwaruwari and his low shot beat goalkeeper Maik Taylor but struck the post and rebounded out before Queudrue cleared at the expense of a corner.

Manchester City looked shaky at the back and Radhi Jaidi had a header cleared off the line by Elano after he had made good contact on his header from a McSheffrey corner.

McSheffrey had gone 13 months without a league goal in open play and his anxiety surfaced when he volleyed over from 10 yards out when unmarked after Richard Dunne's unintentional back header from a teasing Sebastian Larsson cross fell into his path.

Another superb ball into the box from Larsson almost caught out Dunne who was relieved when he toe-ended the ball over Joe Hart, who was off his line, and onto the roof of his own net.

Queudrue showed great technique with an overhead kick from the edge of the Manchester City area which was tipped over the bar by Hart.

It seemed only a matter of time before Blues broke the deadlock and they finally went ahead after 39 minutes through Zarate's second goal in two games.

The impressive Queudrue was the creator with a superb pass into the path of the Argentinian striker who calmly lobbed the ball over Hart into the corner of the net.

It came as no surprise when another superb finish by Zarate doubled Birmingham's lead after 54 minutes.

Forssell won the ball in the air and his flick-on found McSheffrey who slipped the ball into Zarate who drilled a low shot past Hart from 15 yards out.

But then Manchester City were handed a lifeline three minutes later as the home side were reduced to 10 men with the sending-off of Queudrue.

Muamba's misplaced pass played Birmingham into trouble and Queudrue was adjudged to have been the last defender as he brought down Benjani in the penalty area.

Queudrue was given his marching orders by referee Rob Styles before Benjani made no mistake from the spot.

Manchester City enjoyed a spell of superiority for the first time but with 13 minutes left McSheffrey scored from the spot after it was adjudged he had been brought down by Sun Jihai.